Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea fans suffer least - but who has it toughest?

EASY PICKINGS: United fans are the least long suffering, according to the stats [GETTY]

The Red Devils may be struggling to hit the heights this season but stattos say they are the easiest team to support.

They crunched numbers from 220,000 results since the first Football League season in 1888-89 to rank clubs by their success, weighted by extra factors including the size of their average home crowds.

Liverpool come second in the least suffering index, with Arsenal third, Chelsea fourth and Tottenham fifth.

But it is the poor fans of Rochdale who suffer the most, ahead of Hartlepool in second and Exeter in third.

The Dale have spent more seasons in the bottom flight of English football (78 including this season) than any other team.

During their 36-year unbroken residence in the football’s basement from 1974 to 2010, fans of other clubs began to refer to League Two as ‘the Rochdale division’.

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They also have the lowest average league placing of any in the Football League – 76th.

Even Bill Shankly, the legendary manager of Liverpool, took a dig at Rochdale when he said: “Of course, I didn’t take my wife to see Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Anyway, it was Rochdale reserves.”

The study was commissioned by the makers of Warren United, a new animated sitcom, starting April 22 on ITV4.